


All we have is now

by derschmetterling



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Fluff, Gay Mutant Road Trip, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-26 20:02:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6253978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/derschmetterling/pseuds/derschmetterling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A brief vignette from those few happy months in X-Men: First Class. Charles contemplates this summer's indiscretion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All we have is now

That summer seemed to last forever. It was, in some ways, the definition of a summer’s indiscretion. Charles would lie on crisp white sheets and watch the sun filter through the window blinds and cast strange shadows on Erik’s shoulder. A summer’s indiscretion. Only so much more.

Erik didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve. How he felt about Charles, about all of this, was not always apparent. His anger was obvious and sometimes all too consuming, but the gentler feelings, the ones nestled close to his heart, were a trickier find. A telepath could go mad trying to unwind the tangled mess of repressed emotion in that man’s mind.

Luckily, Charles is patient.

In the weak morning light, Erik’s eyes, eyes the color of a stormy sea, are half-lidded and focused on the curve of Charles’s throat. A calloused thumb reaches up and lightly strokes at the hollow there, pressing down lightly. Charles isn’t afraid of Erik hurting him. He could, Charles thinks, and he probably will, someday. But reading minds makes you less blind to people’s intentions, and Charles knows it is not Erik’s intention to harm him. Ever.

There’s a frown on Erik’s face, but it’s merely pensive. 

“What are you thinking?” Charles asks softly, letting his thumb rest in the corner of Erik’s mouth.

Erik’s tone is amused. “Don’t you know?”

“I like to hear you tell me,” Charles says, “just looking ruins all the surprises.”

Erik smiles, very lightly.

“I was thinking how much you have me under your thumb.”

Charles presses down on Erik’s cheek a little harder. He doesn’t know if that’s truly what Erik’s thinking, and the thought thrills and terrifies him. He loves it.

Raven once asked him if there was such a thing as love at first sight. Charles doesn’t think so, not for other people. But perhaps there’s such a thing for telepaths. On that cold, dark night in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Charles heard a mind. It was a mind so tortured, so fierce with anger and sadness and goodness and love. There was so much love in Erik. Charles could only hope to match it.

When Charles grabbed onto Erik and held so tight, he didn’t want to let go. Erik had pushed him away and since then had held him at arm’s length, but lately, Charles has been let in closer.

“We should probably get up soon,” Charles mumbles against the pillow, but he doesn’t move.

“Mutants to find, world to save,” Erik yawns against Charles’ fingers, his lip barely brushing against the skin, “just our regular, everyday life.”

Charles won’t deny how his heart soars at the word ‘our’. 

“Not just mutants,” Charles says quietly, happily. “Family. We’re finding our brothers and sisters, Erik.”

Erik ruminates on this for a moment, something in his eyes shines. His face is unreadable, and for the first time, Charles wants to break his promise and find out why. Finally, Erik speaks.

“Family.”

His foot traces its way up Charles’s calf and he sighs in relief. Family. It’s something they’ve both been sorely missing. Charles is fortunate enough to have Raven, even if he didn’t really have his mother or his father. Erik’s been without family for far too long. The thought of giving him some semblance of it back is important to Charles.

“I never imagined…” Erik says quietly, “that someone like you existed in the world.”

Charles’s heart pounds a little harder in his chest.

“Me neither,” he whispers.

Erik leans forward and brushes his lips lightly against Charles, and he thinks he’s just fallen in love all over again. The future is unsure and unstable, these sultry summer days won’t last forever, but with Erik by his side, Charles thinks he’ll be all right.


End file.
